Thursday evening February 23

Preparation

Opening response

Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.Lord, come quickly and help us.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night:to you be praise and glory forever.As darkness falls you renew your promiseto reveal among us the light of your presence.By the light of Christ, your living Word,dispel the darkness of our heartsthat we may walk as children of lightand sing your praise throughout the world.Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.Blessed be God forever.

That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,so may your mercy come down upon usto cleanse our heartsand set us free to sing your praisenow and forever.Amen.

If thou gavest the enlarged desireWhich for thee we ever feel,Now our longing souls inspire,Now our cancelled sin reveal;Claim us for thy habitation,Dwell within our hallowed breast;Seal us heirs of full salvation,Fitted for our heavenly rest.

Give us quietly to tarry,Till for all thy glory meet,Waiting, like attentive Mary,Happy at the Savior's feet.Keep us from the world unspotted,From all earthly passions free,Wholly to thyself devoted,Fixed to live and die for thee.

Wrestling on in mighty prayer,Lord, we will not let thee goTill thou all thy mind declare,All thy grace on us bestow;Peace, the seal of sin forgiven,Joy and perfect love impart;Present everlasting heaven,All thou hast and all thou art.

Confession of sin

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

Almighty God,patient and of great goodness:I confess to you,I confess with my whole heartmy neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments,my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking;the hurts I have done to others,and the good I have left undone.O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;and raise me to newness of life;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the God of love and powerforgive us and free us from our sins,heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.Amen.

The Word of God

Psalm 78:40-72

Refrain:Earth: Tremble before the Lord!

How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness and distressed him in the desert!Time and time again they tested God, provoking the holy one of Israel.They didn’t remember God’s power— the day when he saved them from the enemy; how God performed his signs in Egypt, his marvelous works in the field of Zoan.God turned their rivers into blood; they couldn’t drink from their own streams.God sent swarms against them to eat them up, frogs to destroy them.God handed over their crops to caterpillars, their land’s produce to locusts.God killed their vines with hail, their sycamore trees with frost.God delivered their cattle over to disease, their herds to plagues.God unleashed his burning anger against them— fury, indignation, distress, a troop of evil messengers.God blazed a path for his wrath. He didn’t save them from death, but delivered their lives over to disease.God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males; in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy.God led his own people out like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the wilderness.God led them in safety—they were not afraid! But the sea engulfed their enemies!God brought them to his holy territory, to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired.God drove out the nations before them and apportioned property for them; he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents.But they tested and defied the Most High God; they didn’t pay attention to his warnings.They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors; they twisted away like a defective bow.They angered God with their many shrines; they angered him with their idols.God heard and became enraged; he rejected Israel utterly.God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh, the tent where he had lived with humans.God let his power be held captive, let his glory go to the enemy’s hand.God delivered his people up to the sword; he was enraged at his own possession.Fire devoured his young men, and his young women had no wedding songs.God’s priests were killed by the sword, and his widows couldn’t even cry.But then my Lord woke up— as if he’d been sleeping!Like a warrior shaking off wine, God beat back his foes; he made them an everlasting disgrace.God rejected the tent of Joseph and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim.Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loves.God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven and like the earth, which he established forever.And God chose David, his servant, taking him from the sheepfolds.God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes to shepherd his people Jacob, to shepherd his inheritance, Israel.David shepherded them with a heart of integrity; he led them with the skill of his hands.

Glory to the Father and to the Sonand to the Holy Spirit;as it was in the beginning is nowand will be forever. Amen.

Refrain:Earth: Tremble before the Lord!

Psalm prayer

God our shepherd,in all our wanderings and temptations,teach us to rest in your mercyand trust in your defence;through him who laid down his life for us,Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament readingGenesis 32:3-30

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau, toward the land of Seir, the open country of Edom. He gave them these orders: “Say this to my master Esau. This is the message of your servant Jacob: ‘I’ve lived as an immigrant with Laban, where I’ve stayed till now. I own cattle, donkeys, flocks, men servants, and women servants. I’m sending this message to my master now to ask that he be kind.’”

The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went out to your brother Esau, and he’s coming to meet you with four hundred men.”

Jacob was terrified and felt trapped, so he divided the people with him, and the flocks, cattle, and camels, into two camps. He thought, If Esau meets the first camp and attacks it, at least one camp will be left to escape.

Jacob said, “Lord, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I’ll make sure things go well for you,’ I don’t deserve how loyal and truthful you’ve been to your servant. I went away across the Jordan with just my staff, but now I’ve become two camps. Save me from my brother Esau! I’m afraid he will come and kill me, the mothers, and their children. You were the one who told me, ‘I will make sure things go well for you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so many you won’t be able to count them.’”

Jacob spent that night there. From what he had acquired, he set aside a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He separated these herds and gave them to his servants. He said to them, “Go ahead of me and put some distance between each of the herds.” He ordered the first group, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, ‘Who are you with? Where are you going? And whose herds are these in front of you?’ say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s, a gift sent to my master Esau. And Jacob is actually right behind us.’” He also ordered the second group, the third group, and everybody following the herds, “Say exactly the same thing to Esau when you find him. Say also, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob thought, I may be able to pacify Esau with the gift I’m sending ahead. When I meet him, perhaps he will be kind to me. So Jacob sent the gift ahead of him, but he spent that night in the camp.

Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”

But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”

Jacob also asked and said, “Tell me your name.”

But he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” and he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel, “because I’ve seen God face-to-face, and my life has been saved.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament readingTitus 2

But you should talk in a way that is consistent with sound teaching. Tell the older men to be sober, dignified, sensible, and healthy in respect to their faith, love, and patience.

Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in their behavior, teaching what is good, rather than being gossips or addicted to heavy drinking. That way they can mentor young women to love their husbands and children, and to be sensible, morally pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, so that God’s word won’t be ridiculed. Likewise, encourage the younger men to be sensible in every way. Offer yourself as a role model of good actions. Show integrity, seriousness, and a sound message that is above criticism when you teach, so that any opponent will be ashamed because they won’t find anything bad to say about us.

Tell slaves to submit to their own masters and please them in everything they do. They shouldn’t talk back or steal. Instead, they should show that they are completely reliable in everything so that they might make the teaching about God our savior attractive in every way.

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. It educates us so that we can live sensible, ethical, and godly lives right now by rejecting ungodly lives and the desires of this world. At the same time we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us in order to rescue us from every kind of lawless behavior, and cleanse a special people for himself who are eager to do good actions.

Gospel canticleThe Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Refrain:God, you have done great things and holy is your name.

With all my heart I glorify the Lord!In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favoredbecause the mighty one has done great things for me.Holy is his name.He shows mercy to everyone,from one generation to the next,who honors him as God.He has shown strength with his arm.He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.He has pulled the powerful down from their thronesand lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good thingsand sent the rich away empty-handed.He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,remembering his mercy, just as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.

Luke 1:46-55

Glory to the Father and to the Sonand to the Holy Spirit;as it was in the beginning is nowand will be forever. Amen.

Refrain:God, you have done great things and holy is your name.

Brief silence.

The Apostle’s Creed

Let us unite in this historic confession of the Christian faith:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died, and was buried;he descended to the dead.On the third day he rose again;he ascended into heaven,is seated at the right hand of the Father,and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.

Prayers

Thanksgiving and intercession

Thanksgiving may be made for the day.

Intercessions are offeredfor peacefor individuals and their needs

Prayers may include the following concerns:

Local government, community leadersAll who provide local servicesThose who work with young or elderly peopleSchools, colleges and universitiesEmergency and rescue organizations

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

God of grace,hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,you have created the heavens and the earthand made us in your own image:teach us to discern your hand in all your worksand your likeness in all your children;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,now and forever.Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Savior taught us, so we pray

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and forever.Amen.

Conclusion

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.Amen.